


The Alchemist and the Werewolf

by Froggy1988



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Bullying, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff and Smut, Werewolf
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:47:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26749003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Froggy1988/pseuds/Froggy1988
Summary: Catalina and Varian have been friends for years, she helps him in the lab, they go on walks together and occasionally get drunk together.  But when she invites him to a ball a week after her eighteenth birthday things begin to change... and not just because she turns into a werewolf and takes a swipe at some boys who were teasing her.
Relationships: Red | Catalina/Varian (Disney)
Comments: 104
Kudos: 47





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Do you know when you’re meant to be writing a story that you started months ago and yet there’s one stuck in your head that’s stopping you from sleeping and demanding that you write it… this is one of those stories.   
> Okay, so this kind of makes reference to a made up Corona tradition that I wrote about in a story called Birthday Kisses, where a boy on their eighteenth birthday has to present themselves in the grand hall and isn’t allowed to eave until a girl comes to give him a kiss.

Varian watched the glass in front of him with a frown on his face. He kept waiting, but it wouldn’t change from the yellow liquid to a bubbling blue. Failed, again. He sighed in frustration running his hands through his hair. He pulled his googles off and looked down at Ruddiger.

“I don’t know why it isn’t working.”

Ruddiger tilted his head to one side and gave a little chirp.

“You know they say talking to yourself is sign of insanity.”

Varian jumped and turned around to see his friend Catalina leaning against the door frame.

“I was talking to Ruddiger.”

“Well, most people would think talking to raccoons is insane too.” Ruddiger had run to her, and she bent down to run an affection hand over his head.

“Lucky we’re not most people.” Varian said leaning back in his chair, having to quickly grab the table as it tipped too far back.

“Do you know what day it is?” Catalina asked, walking over and sitting on the edge of his table.   
  


“Umm…. Wednesday?”  
  


“It’s Friday actually.”  
  


“When did that happen?”  
  


“After Thursday, so… it’s my birthday.”

Varian stilled. Catalina’s birthday, he was supposed to know that. Hadn’t he heard Eugene and Lance talking about it the week before? And he’d made plans to do something for her…and then, he’d forgotten. He gave an inward groan, poor Catalina, she deserved a better friend than him. She was always coming to his lab, making sure that he had eaten, or slept. Going out for walks together to get fresh air and reminding him of Corona’s social calendar – not that she went to many of the events herself, but Varian was often expected to show up.   
  


“Ahha! Happy Birthday, Sixte…no Seven..”  
  


“Eighteen Varian, I am eighteen.” She said patiently.

He stilled, eighteen, that made sense, she was somewhere between five and six years younger than him after all, but somehow he hadn’t noticed that she was now a woman. He was used to the rather gawky teenager. He stopped and looked at her, properly, maybe for the first time since he’d meet her. She was tall, almost as tall as him, a few years back she’d gone through a very clumsy phrase, he’d almost had to ban her from his lab, but now she seemed a bit more graceful. Long limbed, she favoured long flowing skirts and dresses, with an ever-present leather satchel. Or in the winter like now, wide legged trousers and knitted jumpers with holes in the sleeves that she always poked her thumbs through. She always wore her hair loose, reaching halfway down her back. She still covered the little blue mark on her face, most times, but on the odd occasion when he would be in the area of the tree house and pop in it would be uncovered.   
  


“Eighteen, that’s big. I need to get you a present.”  
  


“No, you don’t.” She said shyly.

“Hey.” He said leaning in close to her getting her to meet his eyes. “I will. Jewellery, because that a present for a woman, right? Not a girls present.”

Her lips quirked in a shy smile.

“Don’t worry if you forget.”  
  


“I’m not going to, I’m going to sketch out something tonight, and get Xavier to help me with it tomorrow. So, what are you doing here birthday girl? Shouldn’t you be celebrating? Is there going to be a party?”  
  


“Uh, nobody wants to get drunk with a werewolf.” Catalina rolled her eyes.   
  


“Didn’t we get drunk a few weeks ago?”

Of course Varian knew the answer, Catalina had come in when he’d been pouring himself a whiskey, and he’d poured her one as well. One thing had led to another, and in turn had led to her dancing on the table at the snuggly duckling. Lance had not been pleased when he’d come out of the kitchen to find Varian holding back Catalina’s long red hair as she threw up in the fireplace, they’d had words, serious words, but Varian had been too drunk to remember exactly what they were the next morning.   
  


“Yeah, I meant, nobody except you and a bunch of thugs wants to get drunk with a werewolf.” Catalina replied.  
  


“How old did I think you were then?”  
  


“You didn’t ask.”

“Huh… I think I’m a bad influence.” Varian said scratching the back of his head.   
  


“You’ve forgotten haven’t you?”  
  


“About what?”  
  


“You were talking about when you turned eighteen, and you had to wait in the great hall for somebody to kiss you.”  
  


“I’ve tried to erase that day from my mind.”  
  


“And you said that when I turn eighteen, you would kiss me as I then wouldn’t be stuck waiting.”

Had he said that? In a drunken state he might have done.  
  


“That makes no sense, girls don’t have to do that whole thing.”  
  


“I know.”  
  


“Then why would I say that?”  
  


“Are you trying to get out of this?” She said leaning close to him with a teasing smirk.   
  


“Get out of what?”  


“Kissing me.”  
  


“Wait, what…”  
  


“I came to collect.”  
  


“Catty…” Varian complained. “Why are you teasing me? I know I forgot your birthday…” He froze, the smile had faded from her face, something unsure and uncertain entered her eyes. She quickly looked away from him and jumped down from the table. He followed her to his feet, grabbing her wrist before she could move further away.

“Hey.” He said softly. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I thought you were just teasing me.”  
  


“I wasn’t.” She muttered, her cheeks turning a bright shade of red.

Varian thought for a moment, he wasn’t sure exactly why Catalina had decided to hold him to his drunken promise, but he didn’t want to hurt her feelings by turning her down. He could remember how fragile an ego he’d had himself at eighteen, and what was a kiss between long standing friends? He looked at her awkwardly for a moment, trying to figure out how best to go about it, then he gently took her chin in his hands and tilted her downturned face so that she was meeting his eyes. He noticed her green eyes widen slightly at the touch, her lips parting slightly in surprise.

He leaned in to kiss her aiming for her cheek, but she turned her head slightly and his lips gently brushed against the corner of hers. He felt a slight thrill, a tightening in his lower stomach, which he chastised himself for, he guessed it had just been a long time since he’d kissed anybody. He pulled back, carelessly sweeping a strand of hair out of her eyes.

“Debt paid?”

She blushed and gave a little hum.

“So,” He said turning from her and pulling a piece of blank paper from a pile of scraps on his desk. “What shall I make you? Perhaps a bracelet, as you already have a necklace. I can do something with a leaf design to match.”

“A first kiss was enough.”  
  


“First?” Varian hesitated, his pencil above the paper. Weren’t first kisses meant to be important? He had the sinking feeling that something was happening that he wasn’t smart enough to figure out, something to do with nature, and young women, and romance, the type of stuff he’d never been very good with.

“Well, now I feel a bit guilty.” He muttered.

“Don’t.” She said quickly. “I mean… better you than some guy at a ball, that’s drunk a bit too much, and mistaken me for somebody else.”  
  


“That seems strangely specific.”  
  


“Keira.”  
  


“Ah.”  
  


“She kicked him between the legs, and now Dad has given up on ‘introducing her to polite society’, I mean, it’s not like he was brought up in polite society, he was a thief just like us, but.. you know.”  
  


“Rapunzel got to him?” Varian guessed.

“Queen Arianna. When Keira turned eighteen last year she decided to ‘take an interest’ whatever that means.”

Varian smirked at Catalina as she ranted and made air quotes with her hands as she spoke.

“Well, now you’re eighteen are you going to be forced to go to balls?”  
  


“That’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.”  
  


“Oh?”  
  


“There’s a ball next week.”  
  


“Uh.. yeah, I think I was supposed to design some new fireworks for it. Are you being forced to go?”  
  


“Not forced, I asked the Princess if I could perhaps go, and she said yes.”

“You want to go to a ball?” Varian said incredulously.   
  


“Hey, I’m not like Keira, I like dancing, and dresses, and pretty little cupcakes thingies.”  
  


“The cupcakes are good.” Varian agreed.

“Except.” Catalina said folding her arms behind her back and leaning slightly to the left in a look he recognised as the start of her trying to wheedle something out of him.

“I wanted to go, but I don’t want to be left alone with nobody to talk to, or dance with.”  
  


Varian sighed, he was pretty sure that as the court scientist he was supposed to go anyways, so it wasn’t to big of an imposition to dance with his friend when he was there. Not that he was a big fan of dancing, but with Catalina he might even have fun. She’d always had a talent for making the dullest situations fun, she just had a wild streak about her, and she didn’t care too much about traditions, or propriety, or what anybody might think of her.

“A week from now. Starting at six.”  
  


“Okay, I’ll dance with you.”  
  


She squealed happily, and threw her arms around Varian’s neck.

“Thank you. I’m going to be wearing a pale green dress if you want to colour match.” She said.

“Uh.. I usually wear black to these things.”

“I have some of the fabric left over, I’ll sew you a cravat, or a pocket square or something.”  
  


Varian didn’t think that he should mention that he had never worn a cravat or pocket square. He’d learnt from Eugene that when girls get excited and enthusiastic you should just go with the flow and hope nothing ends up getting blown up.

“Bye.” Catalina shouted as she ran to the door.

He looked down at Ruddiger.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on?”  
  


Ruddiger looked up at him and shrugged.


	2. The Bracelet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m hoping keeping the chapter short will mean that I’ll actually update regularly given that I’m back at university and really low on writing time.

Varian opened the door of the barn, it squeaked on its hinges. He looked around the dusty space, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dim light. His Father had sent him to look for a hoe, though when he’d said it there had been a bit of a smirk on his face, and Varian had to wonder if he was the butt of some kind of joke. He looked around suspiciously, he was just looking down to talk to Ruddiger when he saw the raccoon’s heckles raise, he gave a short growl then turned and ran.

“Hey Buddy, what’s…” His words were stopped by the barn door slamming shut behind Ruddiger.

“Well, that was weird.” He said nervously glancing around, he caught a sudden movement from the corner of his eyes. He turned his head sharply but couldn’t see what had made the movement. His hand reached down, landing on the little purple immobilising ball that was attached to his belt. He only had one, he didn’t have his satchel on him, he didn’t carry it round the farm. The farm was safe... usually.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he heard a low, deep, grumbling growl. He turned round, his eyes searching, he needed to get out, accidentally cornering a wild animal was dangerous. He took a couple of slow steps backwards and reached behind him, pulling at the door of the barn, but it was stuck. There was another low growl. Right, he thought to himself, whatever this was he’d have to try and fight it, at least just to buy himself some time to get the door open.

He stepped back into the barn, eyes searching for movement between the hay bales, his heart racing. There was a flash and something heavy and large hit him in the chest. He just barely saw the flashes of something ginger and black when he found himself on the floor, his hand still in the process of unhooking his alchemical ball. He frantically tried to pull it loose.

There was a strange noise which he took a moment to realise was a laugh. His eyes focused in and he saw green eyes looking down at him. His hand faltered. He took in the pale skin, the red hair, the grinning mouth.

“Ha! I got you good.”

“Get off!” Varian said, giving an annoyed wiggle under Catalina, her body surprisingly heavy on top of his. Of course, she might be tall and slim, but she was made up entirely of strong wiry muscles. He felt her nose nudging against his neck, then something wet and warm snaked up his cheek, he gave a shiver of shock as he realised that she had licked him.

"Gah! Why? Seriously?"

She sat up laughing, her head thrown back, her eyes close and nose winkling.

“So much for being an adult.” Varian huffed, as he grabbed her by the hips and pushed her firmly to the side. 

She rolled off him, lying next to him laughing hard, her arms wrapped around her stomach.

“You face.”  
  


“How did you get in here?”  
  


“Your Dad helped me.”  
  


“He dousn’t need the hoe, does he?”  
  


“Probably not, you might want to take it just in case.”  
  


“It’s not that funny!” He said as she continued to laugh. She sat up and looked at him face to face.

“Oh, don’t be mad V.”

He let out a deep breath, feeling some of his muscles start to slacken again.

“I’m not mad.” He grumbled.

“Really, cause you seem mad.”  
  


“I’m not mad.” He said raising his voice.

She pursed his lips, her eyes shining with mirth and he felt himself smiling too. Now that he was calming down he could see the funny side, and he found it hard not to smile when Catalina’s face was so animated and lit up.

“So, are you here for some reason other than scaring the bejesus out of me?”

“I brought you your cravat.”

She brought a piece of silvery green material out of her satchel and handed it out to Varian. He picked it up and noticed it’s tiny stiches in a slightly darker shade around the edges and then in one corner she had embroidered a little ‘V’ and the outline of a little conical flask and pair of googles. He smiled at the little detail, it had obviously taken some time and concentration to complete.

“I love the googles.” He said, grinning at her.

She gave a small shy smile in response and tucked her hair behind her ears.

He got up to his feet and reached down to grab her hand, pulling her to her feet.

“Come on, I’ve got something for you.”

He pulled Catalina into his room and searched through his drawer until he found the small box he was looking for. He turned around with a flourish. Catalina was looking around his room, her eyes coming to a stop not upon the box he was holding, but on the sketches he had pasted to his wall.

“Oh, they’re by Rapunzel. I’m not quite as good as her, plus, you know if she finds a bare spot of wall she has to fill it with drawings.” He said with a small chuckle. Catalina had a small frown on her face, as she looked at the pictures.

“The maps not by Rapunzel.”  
  


“No, that was from Cassandra’s last letter, it’s this ancient city, it’s in ruins now but apparently they used to be so technologically advanced that we still don’t understand how they accomplished some of the things they did.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, she comes across some really cool stuff sometimes.”

“You have a sketch of her too.”  
  


“Yeah, I have sketches of all of my friends. Uh…” He looked around the room. “Here’s you and Keira.”

Catalina stepped over and looked down at the sketch that Rapunzel had done four or five years previous. They’d made snow forts, girls against boys. The girls had completely thrashed the boys until Varian had put together a rudimentary mangonel catapult and actually buried the girls to the point where he’d had to help dig them out. In the picture the girls were wrapped up in fluffy dressing gowns borrowed from Rapunzel, Varian sat next to them in his fur lined coat, they all had steaming cups of hot chocolate, and were in the middle of laughing. He couldn’t remember the joke, but he could remember the day.

“That’s of when we were kids though.”  
  


“Yeah, well you were technically a kid till a few days ago, and I’m trying to give you your present.” He said holding out the box again.

She hesitated before taking it, he could tell from the way that she was pursing her lips that he had annoyed her with his age remarks. Which was exactly what he had intended to do, he did need to get her back for tricking him after all. He just hoped that she wouldn’t stay upset when she saw the gift. He’d stayed up an entire night making the sketches, and then spent two days getting Xavier to help him with making the moulds for the individual charms and pouring the metal. He’d also helped with the fiddly part of attaching the charms to the bracelet he’d brought. The fiddly work was worth it though when Catalina’s eyes lit up.

“Oh…” She breathed.

When she didn’t say anything else for a few minutes Varian felt the need to interrupt the silence.

“I remember you told me that Keira gave you the leaf necklace to show that you were her family.”

“You remember that?”

“Of course I do, and we'll now you have more family and friends I thought I'd do something that represented them all.”

She was staring at him with her mouth open, as if something he said had surprised her. He leaned in and touched the bracelet dangling from her fingers.

“See, here's Keira’s leaf, just like your necklace. A bow for Lance Strongbow, get it?”

She nodded.

“The frying pan is Rapunzel, the comb Eugene.”

“From when he gave us the comb?” She said quietly.

“Yeah.”  
  


“You were listening?”  
  


“What?” Varian asked surprised.  
  


“When I used to sit in your lab and tell you all those stories about before Keira and I moved here, you were actually listening?” She said again.

“Yeah, of course I was.”  
  


“But, you were always concentrating on your designs.”  
  


“Why did you keep coming to talk to me if you didn’t think I was listening?”

Catalina blushed and looked away.

“So, uh… tell me about the other charms.” She said.

“Oh, this pawprint here with the three toes is Pascal, because he wanted to be included. Horse shoe for max, and this little mask is for Ruddiger.”

“There’s an eighth.” She said lifting the little charm with her finger.

“Yeah, I put myself in there.”  
  


“Goggles.”  
  


“Just like you put on my cravat. Great minds think alike.” Varian said with a smile.

“So, you consider yourself part of my family?”  
  


“Aren’t we?” Varian said.

“I’d like to think we were close.”  
  


“Well, I know you technically live outside the village, but I think we’re still classed as neighbours.”  
  


“That’s not… never mind.”

“Do you like it?”  
  


“I think it’s the best gift I ever got. Well, maybe next to my necklace and being adopted. Thank you so much, it means a lot.”

“No problem, I hoped you’d like it, what with me forgetting at first, I wanted to make something special. Are you staying for dinner? I can go ask Dad and see if we can add something to stretch the stew.”  
  


“Oh, I promised my Dad that I would help him fix a leak in the roof. I’d better go before it gets to dark.”  
  


“Okay then, I’ll see you on Friday then.”  
  


“Yeah.” She said.

They both hesitated, looking at each other. Varian wished she would stay for dinner, it was nice when she stayed, and there was more than just him and his Dad trying to make conversation at the kitchen table.

“I’ll be the one in the cravat.” Varian said taking the square out of his pocket and holding it up.

“And I’ll be the one in the bracelet.” She said.

Catalina was looking directly into his eyes, and when did she get so close to him? Why was he suddenly finding it hard to breath? Were her lips always that red, had they always had that little cupids bow? Why was he staring at his lips? And was it him or had he leaned in even closer?  
  


“Hey kids.” They both jumped as Quirin came through the door. “Are you staying for dinner Catalina?”  
  


“Uh, no, I have too.. um go now.” She said looking awkwardly at Varian before blushing and rushing out the door.

Quirin watched her leave with a raised eyebrow.

“What was that about?”  
  


“I’m not sure.” Varian answered.


	3. The Ball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Lady Abyzou for the german phrase that fits so perfectly here, I do hope I have used it correctly, we've already discussed my failings at none-British languages at length 🙂 non- British because my failings at the language of the British isles is a whole different story, Tiny collection of islands ten indigenous languages.

The Ball

Varian was looking over the table of desserts trying to decide whether he wanted to eat the lemon posset or the chocolate souffle first. There would be plenty of time for both, but if he ate the chocolate first then the lemon would seem more sour and if he ate the lemon first then the chocolate would seem a lot more sweet, maybe even too sweet. He needed to make the most of this, he and his father hardly ever had time to make desserts, occasionally Varian would bake cakes but they were nothing like he got at the royal parties.

“Dessert indecision?” Eugene said walking up and going straight for a raspberry tart.

“It’s just so hard to choose.”  
  


“Just follow the same rules as stealing. Go for the expensive small stuff first, make a quick exit, watch from the side-lines then circle back if you notice you missed something valuable, or in this case, delicious.” Eugene said handing him a chocolate.  
  


“Belgium truffles?”

  
“White chocolate filled with saffron cream, worth more than its weight in gold, and remember, the king always puts the most expensive wines at the back of the table so people are less likely to notice it.” Eugene reached behind the bottles of wine on the next table and handed one to Varian.

“I’ll find the glasses.” Eugene said wondering off.

Varian was just putting the wine back when he heard a murmur run through the crowd, he made out what somebody was saying next to him.

“Look at that dress!”

He turned towards the door thinking that the Queen or Rapunzel may have just entered, at first he couldn’t see who had just come in, but as people started to step back he could see the long red hair of Catalina. He smiled as he made his way towards her, but he slowed as he saw a look of uncertainty on her face. He took a moment to pay attention to her. She was wearing a silky pale green dress. The problem was it was more modern than anything Varian had ever seen in Corona, it clung to curves that Varian hadn’t even noticed before. It also hung a low in the bust area, though she wasn’t exactly large in that area the effect was stunning. Varian was stuck by the thought that she probably want’ wearing much under the dress, it was too low down for a corset, and hung too closely to her hips for the to wear bloomers underneath. Those thoughts led to other thoughts that he’d never considered having about Catalina. Thoughts that made him want to turn around and leave because they made him uncomfortable.

“Why has that girl forgotten to wear her dress, that’s only a slip surely?” 

“She’s not wearing a corset.”

“Honestly, as if she dousn’t attract enough attention, being a werewolf obviously isn’t enough for her.” 

Varian could tell that Catalina was aware she was causing a stir. The girl who in his mind never cared what others thought and just loved to have fun, was starting to blush. She was chewing on her lip and looking around nervously. Varian felt annoyance rising like an acid, burning up into his chest. It was Catalina’s first adult only ball, and she had been looking forwards to it. He wasn’t going to let a few people ruin her night because she looked a little too sinful in a dress.

“Catty.” 

Her eyes lit up when she saw him walking towards her, he thought that he saw something akin to relief when he reached his hand out to her. She took it, and for a moment her felt his heart skip as she gave him a dazzling smile.

What was up with him tonight?

It had been a year since he’d been with a woman, honestly, he hadn’t thought he was missing it that much, but to be looking at a friend in this way, then maybe he was. Trying to ignore his thoughts he pulled her close to him, and led her away from the doorway. With his hand resting on the small of her back he could feel the warmth of her skin under the thin fabric.

He led her to the drinks table and following Eugene’s advice reached for two glasses form the back.

“Don’t mind them Cat.” He said passing her a glass. “You look beautiful.”

She beamed at him.

“You’re wearing the cravat.” She pointed out.  
  


“Of course I am. “He shrugged. “Oh, I’ve got you a corsage thingy.” He said reaching into his jacket pocket and trying to fluff up the three white flowers, they had got a little squashed.

“They’re beautiful, nobody has ever given me flowers before.”  
  


“Well, there is only three of them. May I?” Varian asked.

He had attached the corsage to a hair clip (at Rapunzel’s suggestion), so he reached up and brushed Catalina’s hair from her face. He secured the clip, so it held her hair back on one side. His hand hoovered there for a moment, her skin was glowing in the light of the candelabras, her green eyes glinting, oh, he was in trouble. He just hoped he didn’t slip up and do something that would ruin their friendship. He also needed to take more time in the future to ahem…. Take care of himself, it was obvious to himself he had been neglecting that aspect of his physiology.

“So... um.. what’s the makeup made of?” Varian asked, referring to the little silver triangles she had painted under her eyes to hide her pawprint mark.

“Oh, I don’t know. I got it from the hairdressers in town when I got my hair cut this morning.”

Varian looked at her hair, he couldn’t see how it was any different to how it always looked.

“Yeah, it looks great.” He said. “Just uh… be careful that makeup dousn’t have any poisons in it that could work their way into your blood steam, you wouldn’t believe what they sometime out in make-up.”

“Uh… okay.” She said. “Shall we um…”  
  


“Dance! Yes! We should dance.” Varian said stepping closer and putting his hand on her waist. He took a deep breath, he knew how to dance, he danced occasionally with Rapunzel, once in a blue moon with Arianna, but he tended to avoid the dancing part of the evenings by ducking out to check on the fireworks, his experiments, or just outside. He could dance, he just preferred not to.

They stepped out onto the dance floor, Varian couldn’t figure out where to put his hands, he kept moving them a little on her waist. He didn’t understand why this felt so strange to him, he and Catalina had known each other for years, true, they’d never danced, but it’s not like they weren’t used to being in close proximity to each other, she’d probably touched him a hundred times over the year. So, why did it make him a little anxious when she rested her hand on his shoulder?

“Oh hi Varian.”

Varian turned and saw Rapunzel stood in Eugene’s arms, she stopped dancing and smiled at Catalina.

“Catalina! I love your dress, so unstructured. Green really in your colour. “

Varian gave a soft smile, he knew Rapunzel was being honest, she was probably not entirely aware of the stir the girl’s clothes were causing with the rest of the guests.

“Do you really like it?” Catalina said blushing.

“Of course I do. Did you make it yourself? What’s the material? Is it satin?”  
  


Catalina nodded.

“Oh Varian, I got another letter bundle from Cassandra. I think there’s something in there for you. I’ve left it on the desk in my study, feel free to grab it whenever you want.”  
  


Varian felt a little surge of excitement, another letter from Cassandra? He was excited to see what it contained. He had sent her a ton of questions about her travels in response to her last letter, and he was genuinely excited to see what she’d write back. He only wished that she would come and visit Corona again, then he could ask her all his questions in person and gather all the details he was eager to hear, but that he didn’t have space on a page to ask.

“Come on Sunshine.” Eugene said. “Music is about to start again, and you promised me a full dance, and a moonlight walk in the gardens.”

“Have a good night you too, talk later!” Rapunzel said, giggling slightly as Eugene grabbed her hand and spun her onto the dance floor.

Eugene had been right, the music was changing, a singer had stepped up onto the small stage that had been prepared in the corner of the room. He turned back to Catalina.

“Back to dancing? Wait, are you okay? You’ve gone a bit…”  
  


“I’m fine Varian.”

“Do you need some air? I hope you’re not going down with something; I was looking forwards to our dance.”

“Really?”  
  


“Well, yeah.”

“Well, let’s dance.”

Catalina was smiling expectantly at him. He stepped out onto the dance floor and offered her his hand, he listened for the beat of the music and took Catalina around in a simple stepped slow dance.

“Oww!” He felt a sudden pain in his toes.  
  


“Opps, sorry.” Catalina said blushing. “I’ve only danced on my own before.”  
  


“It’s okay.” Varian said tightening his grip on her slightly. “Just follow my lead.”

The woman on the stage started to sing.

_“Tell me does your heart  
Beat for something it can't have  
Like its fallin' apart  
And all it needs  
Is me to put the pieces back.”_

Catalina stepped on his toes again.

“Just, don’t look so much at your feet, try to just relax.”  
  


“Sorry.” She winced.

_“I watch you watchin' me  
While you’re sittin' next to her  
But I'm still gonna be the friend you need  
Even if it hurts_

_But I can't help it  
All the feelings that you put me through  
I know it's selfish  
But I'm only me when I'm with you  
With you”_

“There you go.” Varian said as he started to feel Catalina relax in his arms, his toes might be a bit safer from now on.

_“We're just friends  
It's just not right  
I'll just wait 'til the moments right  
'Cause you're just you and I'm just me  
I'm just wishin' that we could be  
Just a little more than this  
Just a little more than just friends.”  
  
_

“I’m so glad Keira isn’t here.” Catalina said quietly. “She’d just be making fun of me for being so clumsy.”  
  


“You’re not as clumsy as you used to be. Besides, I think you’re pretty good for somebody who has only practiced on your own. Did I ever tell you about the first one of these things I had to come to?”  
  


“No.”

“I was so nervous; I spent all week practicing dancing. Ruddiger ended up knowing the steps as well as I did. He’s still a better dancer than me actually.”  
  


“But you’re a really good dancer.”  
  


“I’m telling you; you wouldn’t think that if you were small enough to dance with a racoon.”  
  


Catalina giggled, and her nose winkled in a way that made Varian smile.

_“I know you feel the same  
I know it when you make me laugh  
'Cause I can see the red and it's in your cheeks  
And now I'm blushin' back”_

“Anyways, it was all for nothing because back then people were still really weary of me, what with...”

“Kidnapping the Queen.”  
  


“And the Saporian take over, yes.”  
  


“Didn’t Rapunzel dance with you?”  
  


“Ah, it was her engagement ball, I doubt she and Eugene were even aware that there was a single other person in the room, let alone three hundred.”  
  


“I remember that ball, I was there, hiding under one of the tables with Keira, because I was too young to go but I wanted to watch anyways. You were wearing a green waistcoat.”  
  


Varian stared at her.

“How do you remember that?”

He didn’t get an answer though, as another couple was dancing too close to them, seemingly a little inebriated, and they had to move a little more to the side of the room to avoid bumping into them.

_“But I can play it cool  
I can try and wait this out  
But even after all is said and done  
You're still the one I dream about”_

“I uh, guess I just do.” Catalina answered him as he pulled her back close to him. “I just remember watching you that night.”  
  


“Well, I wish I’d known you were there. I would have come and hid under the table with you.”

_“But I can't help it  
All the feelings that you put me through  
I know it's selfish  
But I'm only me when I'm with you  
With you_

_We're just friends  
It's just not right  
I'll just wait 'til the moments right  
'Cause you're just you and I'm just me  
I'm just wishin' that we could be  
Just a little more than this  
Just a little more than just friends”_

“I didn’t want you under the table with us, I wanted to be out there with you, dancing.”

“Well, we’re here dancing now. Is it what you thought it would be like?”  
  


Catalina blushed and looked away.

“Maybe.”

_“We waited long enough  
The moment's creepin' up  
Even when we touch we know its love  
Been waitin' for your lips  
And now you're leanin' in”_

She was staring at him expectantly again, and he didn’t know what he was supposed to say or do.

“I um… it’s a long time to wait for a dance, but do you know what is worth the wait? The desserts, we should go get some.”

“Can’t we just wait till the end of the song?” She asked leaning her head against his shoulder.

“Uh..sure.”

He could feel the silkiness of her hair against his cheek, feel the light breath tickling his neck, and some part of his brain supplied the word ‘gooseberries’ to explain the scent of her.

_“We were just friends this feels just right  
It's like I've waited for my whole life  
Me and you, the perfect we  
Always wish that we could be_

_We were just friends this feels just right  
It's like I've waited for my whole life  
Me and you, the perfect we  
Always wish that we could be  
Just a little more of this  
Just a little more than just friends.”_

There was a round of applause as the song ended, Varian and Catalina pulled away from each other as they politely joined in. He was about to say something, something stupid about how he loved the fresh tart fruitiness of her smell tonight, or that her hair and her dress felt the same, slippery and smooth and inviting to the touch, when he was luckily interrupted by a young man, perhaps still in his late teens interrupted them.

“Excuse me Miss, may I have the next dance?”  
  


Catalina stared down at his proffered hand with a look of astonishment, and for a second Varian felt a dagger of anger hit his chest, but he shook it off. It was Catalina’s first ball, she deserved to have fun. He looked up at the young man trying to place him, he was quite distinctive, his hair the same red as Catalina’s, Varian half remembered that he was the son of a baron, and he was often on the guest lists to these affairs, he might even have been some distant relation of Rapunzel’s, though as far as he knew she didn’t hold any particular affection for him.

“Oh, I beg my pardon.” The younger man was saying, obviously slightly thrown by the fact that Catalina was just staring blankly at him. “How rude of me not to introduce myself, I am Lord Percival.”  
  


“Catalina.” She answered in barely a whisper.

Varian noticed a blush building on his friends face again, she looked across at him, her expression unsure.

“Go dance.” He encouraged her. “I’ll go and get us some more refreshments.”

Catalina shyly took the young man’s hand and Varian watched as they started to dance to a livelier tune. He felt himself wincing as he saw Catalina’s knee connect with Lord Percival’s with an audible thud, though he managed to ignore it and continue dancing, probably a sign that he had been brought up better than Varian.

He took one final look over his shoulder at her as he went to find the dessert table. It was half empty now, Eugene had been right, the truffles had gone, but there were still lemon possets left.

Varian stood slowly eating his dessert, and watching the dancers circling the floor, he’d occasionally catch a glimpse of two lots of red hair and would crane his neck slightly, but they would always pass back out of his sight almost the instant they entered it.

“Where’s your Catty..Wolfy..Catalina gone?” Eugene asked coming to stand next to him, and almost knocking over the table as he tried to casually lean against it. “Wow, right, there we go. That could have ended badly.”

“Just how much of that wine did you drink?”  
  


“Whose counting?”  
  


“Catalina is dancing with Lord Percival, and you shouldn’t refer to her as my Catalina you know.”  
  


“Shouldn’t I?” Eugene said with a raised eyebrow.

“No. Of course not.” Varian said. “Seriously, how much have you had to drink?”

“She has a crush on you.”  
  


“Who?”  
  


“Catalina.”  
  


“No..what.. wait?”  
  


“She’s always had it, it was kinda cute when she was a kid. Plus, it was the only way we could hear her talk.

“Talk? She hardly ever shut up when she was a kid.”  
  


“Oh, that was when you were around, when you weren’t she was super quiet. But uh.. now she’s clearly a woman, and she’s just turned of marriageable age, so uh.. don’t hurt her.” Eugene said clasping his shoulder.  
  


“We’re friends, we’re good friends. “Varian said brushing Eugene’s hand away. “She’s always down in my lab, she’s a fairly good assistant sometimes…. “Varian stopped, he remembered her asking him to kiss her. He had been her first kiss, and she’d wanted him to come to the ball with her, but … those were things that friends did sometimes right?

He looked around the large hall, he was lucky really that her hair was so distinctive as he was able to find her. He froze, even at a distance he could see that something was wrong. She wasn’t dancing with Lord Percival anymore, in fact, he was stood a little away from her with another group of boys his age. Varian was struck by the feeling that something was about to go wrong.

“What’s wrong?” Eugene asked, but Varian didn’t answer as he hurried towards Catalina.

“Catty!” He called, but she didn’t seem to hear him, she was standing perfectly still looking at the laughing group of boys. The music came to an end and he could hear the boys now, laughing loudly.

“I can’t believe you danced with a werewolf!”  
  


“Yeah I wonder how far you could get with her!”  
  


“Oh please.” Lord Percival said. “Did you see how she was hanging on to that mechanic guy they keep around? Wie ein läufige Hündin.”

He was going to hit him, he felt his hands clutching into fists, his body tensing. The boys with Lord Percival were laughing loudly. He hated them all. He was working his way through the crowd to them, but he heard a scream that stopped him in his tracks. He looked around for the source of the scream and saw Catalina running at Lord Percival. There was a fuss as people were rushing to get out of her way, more startled screams following, for a moment in the confusion Varian couldn’t work out what was happening.

There were loud gasps, as Catalina swiped at Percival. The boy gave a shrill scream. Varian saw slashes in Percival’s expensive clothes, thin lines of red blood appearing on the skin beneath. Catalina turned , and he paused mid-step, able to see her from the front. He could understand the screaming now, the reason people were backing away and looking horrified. Catalina was part-formed, her eyes had turned red, her teeth have grown into prominent points, and her hands larger now, had elongated, and ended in sharp talons.

“Catty.” He gasped. Her wide eyes settled on him for a moment. Then she was running, and he couldn’t do anything but stare at her as she ran past him. He shook himself out of his shock and looked towards the door just in time to see her disappearing out of the hall with a loud sob.

“Clean up time.” Eugene whispered, appearing next to him and was taking him by the arm. “Might need your help, I’m a bit drunk.”

He was pulling Varian towards Lord Percival.

“Uh.. Eugene, there’s blood.”  
  


“Just don’t look. Lord Percival! Let’s see the damage shall we.” Eugene said. “Just scratches, nothing to worry about, though we can call the doctor if you want a second opinion. Varian, did you see where she went?”  
  


“I’ll go find her.”  
  


“She’s deranged, you should lock her up! You keep pet dogs on leashes! Not let them run wild through parties with civilised people.” Lord Percival said trying to keep up his bravados, but Varian could see how pale and shaken he was.

“Watch it, or she won’t be the only one you have to deal with tonight!” Varian said stepping forwards, Eugene put his arm out to stop him getting any closer.

“And you should learn not to piss off people who are bigger, stronger and scarier than you are.” Eugene said.  
  


“No Eugene, I think it’s more a case that he should learn how to treat a lady. He’s the uncivilised one, and he deserves everything he gets!”

“Varian, I’ve got this. Go check Catalina is okay.” Eugene said turning to him.

Varian gave a huff of annoyance, he really wanted to teach this baby lord a few lessons on how to treat people, but Eugene was giving him a rare look that couldn’t be argued with, the one he wore when he was addressing Varian as the captain of the guard and not as a friend. Besides, Varian was barely holding onto his temper and the King and Queen were now heading over, he would probably do best to avoid insulting their distant cousin in front of them.

He left the hall, keeping his eyes on the floor because the skittish looks of the dignitaries were just annoying him even further. Catalina had barely hurt the guy! He stepped out into the hallway and noticed something glimmering on the floor, a pale green fabric, he picked it up realising that it was Catalina’s dress. It had been ripped apart, and he felt sorry for Catalina for a moment, knowing how hard she must have worked on making the garment.

He looked around wondering where she would go to if she was in the middle of transforming? Somewhere private, like a guest room or bathroom? No, he doubted it, Catalina just wasn’t girly enough to hid in a bathroom and cry. Outside, he thought to himself, Catalina was almost always outside, when she wasn’t in his lab that was. She liked being in nature, she liked not being confided by walls. He knew that’s where she would have gone now, and he doubted she would have gone far. He headed though the corridors and out into the gardens.

He looked around his breath coming out in small puffs in the cold nights air. It was hard to see, the only light coming from the windows above. He spotted a movement behind some of the box bushes in front of him. He took a few steps forwards, halting when he heard a rumbling growl, red eyes glowing through the darkness as they saw him. 

“It’s just me.” He said. He moved slowly so as not to startle her, he had forgotten just how huge the wolf was, ten feet tall, and with board muscular shoulders three times the width as most men’s. He had to remind himself that it was just Catalina. Under that thick grey fur, red eyes and six-inch fangs it was just his friend, just his loving, funny friend who could use his help right now. He knelt beside her, placing his hand onto her shoulder, he could feel her shaking under him. 

“Oh, Cat I’m sorry, those guys are jerks.” He took her snout in his hands and tilted it up so that he could look into her red eyes. Her brow was furrowed, and he could tell how upset she was. Somehow, he could see her now, Catalina, underneath the wolf. Green eyes or red, lips or snout, somehow her expressions were the same.

Sighing, he took his jacket off and wrapped it around her, it didn’t cover much, but he hoped that it would bring her some comfort. She looked up at him with sad eyes, and he just wished that she would talk to him, but maybe her whole reason for being the wolf at this moment was that she didn’t have to talk and couldn’t cry. 

“You don’t deserve this.” Varian said gently. “You deserve to be treated a lot better.” 

He didn’t know why he did it, but he took the wolf’s head in his hands and tilted it down to place a small kiss on the short silken hair of her snout, just above her nose. She stilled, staring up at him. 

“Come on, let’s get you inside, it’s cold.” 

She glanced over her shoulder, back towards the hall. 

“You don’t want anybody to see you?” Varian guessed. “Okay, can you changed back?” 

She whimpered, a pitiful sound that struck at Varian’s chest. 

“Oh, okay. You uh.. can’t always control it?” 

She nodded. 

“Okay, well, we’ll sneak in through the kitchen entrance.” 

He got to his feet, and nudged at the wolf’s shoulder, trying to push her into moving. She gave a little huff as she got onto all four paws. Crouching down in the shadow she followed him. They made it halfway to his room before a kitchen maid came round the corner, she shrieked and turned running back down the hall. Catalina let out a startled howl, Varian put his arm around her neck and shushed her. 

“Shush, shush, I thought you didn’t want to be seen.”  
  


It took another few minutes to persuade Catalina to move again. Somehow he’d ended up stroking her ears and whispering southing phrases to her. 

“Come on, I have a room here. Just up these steps.” 

They finally got to his room. He looked around feeling slightly embarrassed by the mess, he’d not stayed there for two weeks. He only had the room because he sometimes worked long hours down in the Demanitus chamber (or as it was now called, his palace laboratory) and after once passing out in front of Rapunzel she’d made sure he had a comfortable place to sleep from then on. The maids never went into clean, not after the…accident.  


The wolf was taking up a large space in his small room. He paused wondering what he was going to do now. He’d got her safely away from everybody, but he wasn’t entirely sure what the next move was. He supposed it was trying to talk her out of her wolf form, but he honestly didn’t know where to start. Somehow they had been friends for six years and yet they’d not had an emotional conversation, or even talked about the whole wolf thing. Maybe it was because he’d been almost an adult when he’d met her, and she’d still been a kid, so they’d just taken each other as was.

She was letting out a repeated stifled little whimper, and she had her back turned to him, her head down, as if she was trying to hide from him. Something about that crushed him. He didn’t really know how he was supposed to reassure her that everyhting would be alright when she couldn’t talk. 

“Hey hey.” He said placing his hand on the back, the fur under his fingers feeling strange, not course like dog fur, but thin and silky like Catalina’s normal hair. He rubbed his hand up and down in the way his mum used to when he was upset, hoping that she wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that he was stroking her and get more upset.

“It’s Okay, you can stay here as long as you like. In fact, you can sleep here, I’m sure you’ll feel much better in the morning.”

He hadn’t really thought through the offer before making it, but he’d work out the logistics if he had to.

“It’s late, we’ve both had a bit too drink, and that can make things seem worse than they are.” Though he was trying to reassure her he knew that they’d both only had a few sips of wine. “Come on, you take the bed I’ll take the…” He looked around realising for the first time just how sparse the room was. He couldn’t exactly sleep on the stool next to his desk. The stone floor didn’t even have a rug, but he supposed that was where he’d have to sleep. He heard a slight whine, not like the crying he’d heard before, more like she was trying to get his attention. He looked up to see that the wolf had moved onto the bed, surprisingly silent for a someone so big. She was lying on her side and had pushed herself as far to one end as she could, almost falling off. Paws patted the small space beside her, ears down and sorrowful. 

Sleeping next to a werewolf, he’d had many experiences in the last few years that he’d have never expected and bedding down with a giant wolf was certainly on the list. He remembered a camping trip with Lance, not long after he’d adopted the girls. In the middle of the night something had spooked Catalina, and Varian had woken up the next morning to find that she had silently come into his tent and curled up beside him. Not touching him, just laying a few inches from him, sound asleep. She’d just been a child then though, and now she was a woman… and a giant fanged and clawed werewolf woman. He just had to keep reminding himself that somewhere in amongst the fur, was that little girl who had sought him out when scared, his friend, and she needed him tonight.

She let out another whimper, and all thoughts stopped for Varian. He climbed onto the bed and wrapped his arm as far around the giant form as far as he could, trying to get her to calm down. The affection came easily to him once he stopped over thinking it. She was so warm and didn’t smell of dog at all. Instead she smelt of tart gooseberries. He pulled her a little closer. She had been his friend for seven years now, and yet somehow he couldn’t remember seeing her upset, and he’d only seen her in this wolf form a few times. He was determined that was going to change. He was going to get to know her better, be a better friend, let her be herself around him. After all, she was one of the few people he had in his life that he’d never felt the need to apologise too or tried to be more normal (less himself) around. She deserved to feel as comfortable around him as he did around her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m trying to find what the name for this pairing is. Does anybody know? And if not can I just make it up myself? Because my top choices would be.
> 
> Varied (Varian and red)  
> Catian  
> Varalina
> 
> Apologies for any mistakes, I decided to edit with a very large glass of wine in my hand – LOVE YOU ALL!


	4. Beasts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ: The warnings on this story have changed to include Non-Con, I am sorry that this was not originally put on, the storyline has evolved slightly as I’ve been writing. The mentioning’s of Non-Con start next chapter, they are not explicit, but you should be aware that they are there and judge whether to continue reading yourselves.

Beasts

Skin, Varian could feel warm smooth plush skin against his. He gave a happy murmur and nuzzled in closer. His hand coming to rest on the body next to him, finding a rise with a hardness under it, a hip his mind supplied. His hand ran down over that hip to a plump buttock, and he gave another happy mummer as he pushed himself closer, his body meeting the other next to him and drowsily trying to mould to its shape. Marian was not a morning person, so he knew he’d eventually have to quietly leave the bed so as not to wake her. But, his mind supplied, something wasn’t right because Marian had left. It had been almost a year now since she had made the decision to get on a boat and see if the world had more to offer her than being a barmaid at the snuggly duckling. So who…

Varian opened his eyes to find a pale shoulder covered in freckles. The night before started to filter into his mind, he’d been at a ball, he’d laid down next to a wolf. His eyes widened and he leapt backwards to find Catalina’s green eyes watching him.

“Jeez!” He said pulling his hand back as if burned.

“Morning.” Catalina said.

She sat up and stretched her arms up into air, linking her fingers as she bent backwards. The blankets fell around her hips and for a moment Varian was staring at the lines of flat stomach, ribs and small mounds of soft subtle flesh decorated with rosy circles. He looked away pointedly, swallowing as he felt his mouth go dry and his hardness twitch insistently. She was most definitely a woman now. He felt his cheeks go hot as he tried to gather the blankets a little more around his lap without being noticed, though he didn’t know why he was bothering, he’d been pushed up to her moments before and he doubted that she had failed to notice his state.

Catalina turned to him and he could just see the pale freckled flesh out of the corner of his eyes.

“How much trouble am I in for attacking Lord Snotball?” She asked, not making any attempt to cover herself up.

It took Varian a moment to clear his head and try to think through the question, perhaps she was just too worried to notice her nudity?  
  


“I’m not sure, but he wasn’t all that injured.”  
  


“Well… that’s good, I didn’t really want to maim him, I just lost my temper a bit. “

“Aren’t you a bit cold…” Varian suggested.

“No.” Catalina said. “I don’t know, when he asked me to dance I thought maybe somebody outside of our little circle wasn’t intimidated by me. Maybe somebody wanted to get to know me.”

“Aren’t you uncomfortable?” Varian pointedly suggested again.   
  


“No, this bed is lovely, plush. Do you think I was being stupid? To dance with him I mean? Should I have guessed why he was doing it?”

“No, Catty. I encouraged you to dance with him, I didn’t think that it would go that way either. But, did you really want to be known by somebody like him? I mean, I guess he’s a lord, maybe handsome…”

“No, it wasn’t like that, you know I don’t have any interest in …” He could hear her voice drop off, suddenly shy.

“Any interest in what?” He asked curiously.

  
“I don’t need any other boys, men, in my life.”  
  


“I’d say Lord Snotball definitely fell into the boy’s category.”

Forgetting for a moment he turned to smile at her, then groaned and covered his eyes. Why was his mind so persistently demanding that he pay some attention to the naked woman in his bed? It was just Catalina for heaven’s sake. Had he really failed to notice until it had been so squarely pointed out to him that she’d well…developed. He was getting a neckache looking so pointedly away from her, but he couldn’t understand why she did not seem to have any problem being naked in his presence. That was Catalina though, never quite what you expected, never quite playing from the same rule book as everybody else.

“Now, uh.. let’s find you some clothes.”

He stood up and went to the chest of drawers, he kept a couple of changes of clothes there for when he accidentally melted parts of his, or made them turn glow in the dark pink. He found up a loose white shirt and a pair of light brown pants and held them out behind him, his eyes tightly shut.

He could sense her mirth, she always seemed to be laughing at him for one thing or another, and yet he rarely found himself offended by it.

“It’s just a naked body Varian, it’s nothing to be scared off. “  
  


“I prefer clothed bodies. Especially on my friends, and especially when those friends are female.”  
  


“So you noticed. “  
  


“Just get dressed!”

She gave a loud laugh, deeper and freer than most people would expect. Her uninhibited, head turning laugh was one of the things that made her Catalina, and Varian loved it. Though not right in this particular moment. He felt the clothes taken from his hands and kept his eyes tightly shut as he heard the squeak of the mattress and rustles of clothing. He felt a hand gently come to rest on his shoulder and her turned around to see Catalina stood there with a shy smile. The clothes were too large on her and the shirt was falling off her shoulder, trousers barely staying up, but she was for the most part fully covered now.

“I never said thank you. For last night, for coming to find me.” She said earnestly.

  
“You know you never have to thank me. I’d always try to be there when you need me, no thanks ever needed. It’s what friends do.”

She gave a soft smile.

“You’re still blushing.”

“Yes…well.. I wasn’t expecting to wake up next to a naked woman this morning.”  
  


Now it was Catalina’s turn to blush and to look down uncomfortably.

“I wonder if you knew it as me when you were touching me, I mean for a second I thought… but then you whispered something about Marian so..”  
  


Varian felt his face grow hot as he thought about his hands wondering around that warm silken skin. She’d been aware of him touching her so inappropriately and yet she’d not jumped away from him, she’d not hurried to get dressed either. For a moment he worried that he’d scared her, but she didn’t seem scared.

“I umm..”

His body had been responding to her, he’d been fully clothed, but they’d been close. Did she know it was just his sleeping mind reaching out for something comfortable and warm?

“Do I owe you an apology, or, I mean, I didn’t mean to, I was still asleep really… I owe you an apology, I’m really sorry Catalina. I would never do anything…never hurt you in anyway.”

She waved off his stumbling reassurances.

“I know that, and you don’t owe me an apology.” She still looked unsure of something a blush spreading across her freckled cheeks. “I guess you didn’t realize I was naked, last night I mean.”  
  


“I found you’re dress, but you had a lot of fur. I just didn’t add up two and two and think about what would happen if you changed back in the night.”  
  


If Catalina were about to say something it was disturbed by a loud hurried knock at the door.

“Who?” Varina muttered as he went to open it.

Stood outside was a panicked looking Lance.

“Varian.” Lance said quickly. “Catalina is missing. I need your help, something happened last night…”  
  


“Hey, hey Lance.” Varian said raising his hands up. “It’ okay, she’s here.”  
  


“She’s…” Lance stopped in his panic, staring at Varian. Varian opened the door wider and stepped to the side so Lance could see into the room.

“Hi Dad.” Catalina said shyly.

Lance rushed into the room and caught his daughter up in a big bear hug.

“I’m sorry Dad, I should have let somebody know where I was.”

Lance pulled back and looked at her, his hands on her shoulders as he bent slightly to look directly into her eyes.

“What happened? When you didn’t come home I thought you’d taken a guest room, but when I came to find you this morning neither Rapunzel or Eugene had seen you since early in the night, and Eugene told me that you scratched somebody? That you turned?”

“I…” Catalina looked away her cheeks becoming red. “He was making fun of me, he danced with me on a dare from his friends, and then he laughed at me.”  
  


“And you lost your temper?”  
  


“I lost my temper.” Catalina repeated refusing to look up.

“How many times do I have to tell you Catalina! You have to keep in control of your temper! You’re not like other people, you might hurt somebody one day. I know you don’t want that.”  
  


“I know.” Catalina sighed. “I just..” She fell silent.

Lance dropped his hands from her shoulders. He turned to look at Varian.

“Was any harm done?”  
  


“No. At least, not any physical harm. Our Catty, she knows how to shut down a party.” Varian said with a smile trying to lighten the mood, but Lance had already turned from him and was looking Catalina up and down, his fingers pulling at her rolled up sleeves.

“Who do these clothes belong to?”  
  


“Varian. My dress got ripped.”

“Where were you all night? The forest? Why didn’t you come back home for clothes?”  
  


“No. I was here.” Catalina said quietly. “So, the clothes were here, and I…” She trailed off.

“You were in this room all night?” Something changed on Lance’s face. “Alone.”

  
  


Varian felt something uneasy start to settle in his stomach. Catalina didn’t need to answer the question, the way she bit her lip nervously and sought out Varian’s eyes was answer enough. Lance turned to look at him, his face blank. Surely Lance wouldn’t take chagrin with Catalina being with him all night, they had spent many hours alone together, except, never a night in a bed… Varian tried not to wince as he realized Lance would have every right to have a problem with him and Catalina spending a night together, however innocent. He was Varian’s friend, true, but he was also Catalina’s father.

“Varian, a word outside?”

“Dad.” Catalina said with a groan. “No Dad.”

“It’s okay.” Varian said straightening up from where he was leaning against the wall.

He and Lance respected had a respect for each other that had formed years before, in the battle for Corona. All those who had stood up and fought that day had a certain level of respect for each other, but he and Lance had been in planning meetings with Eugene. Lance and his father had worked with him in building his Demanitus portal. They had all been turned into monkeys… okay, well maybe that one didn’t add to the whole respect situation, but the point was, he knew he was not just the young man who had spent the night alone with Lance’s daughter. He was his friend, and he owed him the time to explain the situation to Lance and to accept the older man’s worries and whatever small wrongdoing he was guilty off. And he was guilty at least of not finding a way of contacting Lance and letting him know where his daughter was.

He stepped into the corridor with Lance, who closed the door firmly behind them.

“Varian.” Lance sighed quietly. “What happened?”

Varian knew that when Lance asked him the question was a little bit different from when he’d asked Catalina.

“Catalina changed, and for some reason she was struggling to change back. She was upset so I brought her back here to my room to calm her down. We must have fallen asleep. I’m sorry that I didn’t bring her back to you, or get in contact with you to let you know where she was. I realise now that that’s what I should have done.” Varian explained calmly.

“You spent all night with her?”

“Yes.”  
  


“You shared a bed.”  
  


“Yes.”  
  


Lance’s expression had grown increasingly sour.

“You spent the night sharing a bed with my daughter.” Lance said his voice twinged with anger.

“Lance come on!” Varian said starting to lose his cool. “She was in her wolf form when we fell asleep. What exactly are you trying to accuse me off? It’s not like I’m into bestiality.”  
  


“I’m just wondering..” Whatever Lance was about to say was cut off by the door flinging open, Varian saw a flash of Catalina’s red hair as a hand shoved against his chest, making him stumble backwards as she tried to get past them. Varian stared in shock as he heard her sobbing as she ran down the hallway.  
  


“What..”  
  


“She’s got sensitive hearing.” Lance said, before starting to run down the hallway after her.

It took Varian a few seconds more to register exactly what had upset Catalina, ‘bestiality’ he’d actually said that about his friend, inferred that she was a beast. He’d felt put on the spot; he hadn’t been thinking right… but it was unforgivable.

“Shit!”

He started off at a run, quickly overtaking Lance, Catalina was fast, but she was upset and that was making her stumble slightly by the time they got out to the cobblestones of the courtyard and Varian was able to catch up.

“Catty!” He said as he grabbed her arm. She pulled away with a sudden jerk and turned to him the tears streaming down her face, leaving him feeling a sharp ache in his chest at knowing he was the cause of them.

“Catty I didn’t mean…”  
  


“You’re just like everybody else.”

She turned from him tears streaming down her face. He moved to follow but something stopped him, leaving him stood there reaching out for her disappearing form as Lance joined them in the courtyard.

Catalina in her upset was running blindly, tears were flowing from her eyes, that was why she didn’t see the horse until it was too late…. Animals could have a strange reaction to Catalina.

“Cat!” Varian saw the guard on horseback coming through the gate in the courtyard, he saw Catalina running straight towards it.

Adrenaline filled his body as he rushed towards her, moving without thought. He saw the horse start to fuss, trying to back away. He saw the look in its eyes and knew that the dumb animal was reacting to some kind of inbuilt fear, sensing the girl heading towards it wasn’t quite a girl.

Everything seemed to happen at once.

Lance shouted out wordlessly.

Varian reached Catalina.

Catalina saw the horse and her eyes widened with fear.

The horse reared.

Time slowed and yet didn’t. Varian’s hand connected with Catalina’s shoulder and he pushed her sharply, sending her stumbling out of danger, as he felt the cutting heavy blow of the horse's hoof coming into contact with his shoulder. The blow too strong, too painful for his mind to properly comprehend as he was knocked to the floor. His head hit the cobblestones. Blinding light, a muffle of noise. He could see the gleam of the horse’s black hair above him, the sharp shoes on its hooves. Heard the shouts around him. The last thing he saw before darkness descended was a glint of metal between the mud of the hooves that were coming downwards again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll post this with every fiction I write for the next few weeks- 
> 
> I’d like to remind people to be polite, and respectful to each other’s opinions in the comments sections, and to TRY and keep it PG or at least in line with the tags of the fiction.
> 
> I have awesome readers, I login into my inbox the morning after an update and I see familiar nicknames and It makes me smile. I have been truly blessed to find this fandom at this time, I know that some people have problems with antis but that luckily has never been my experience. My experience has been of supportive, loving, talented people, some of whom have helped me through some writers crisis over on discord (you guys know who you are and I hope you know the affection I hold for you within my heart). I have got to see some amazingly talented artists and discover new ways of sharing media.
> 
> I do not exactly have a duty to act as a moderator on my comments sections, and I will never try to silence any bodies voices, all I can do is ask that you do be respectful. I write primarily for myself, because I love it, but when I upload it onto a site I do have a few duties – like to try my best to tag correctly so nobody is accidentally triggered by something that they hadn’t been previously warned about, and to try and be as honest as I can be (with my limited experience of the world) when tackling certain subjects, just for example, to either show sexual relationships as consensual, loving and respectful, or to show as ‘true’ a representation of when they’re not by showing some emotional effect on the character. I’ll always try to do that but sometimes I might miss the mark, because I’m human and it’s my right to make mistakes and to learn from them.
> 
> I am truly honoured to have so many fantastic readers and other creatives commenting and interacting with my work. 
> 
> Stay safe and aim for happiness, all my love Froggy.


	5. Dreams and remembrances Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 will be up tomorrow, I’ve just run out of time to edit it, but this stops at a nice place I think. Warning: This chapter does elude to rape.

_The knock had woken him up, he’d peered out of his bedroom door as his father had passed by. It was late at night; Varian could tell because his father had been in bed. Who was calling this late? Was something happening in the village? Varian wanted to know. He crept slowly down the hallway and peered through the door into the main room of the house. His father had opened the door._

_"Adira!”_

_His Dad sounded happy._

_“I had no idea."_

_"Quirin, I didn't know where else to go."_

_It was a woman’s’ voice, not one that Varian recognised. He tried to tilt his head to the side to see the woman, but his Dad was too large to see past. There was silence for a moment, a silence Varian knew but didn’t understand. To him it was like adults could have whole conversations without saying anything._

_"What's wrong?" His Dad no longer sounded happy._

_"I'm feeling a quickening. I need a place to stay, a safe place."_

_"The child is coming tonight?"_

_Varian push the door slightly more ajar, trying to see what was going on. There was a child coming to stay that night? That could be fun, perhaps they would share Varian’s room._

_"Of course you can stay, come in, get warm. I'll go for the midwife."_

_His father took a step back, and Varian could see a strange woman in the doorway, she had a mark on her face and white hair although she didn’t look old. Varian could tell from her stomach that she was either going to have a baby, or was very fat, but it was rude to say that, and his Dad had got annoyed when he had asked Mrs Turner of it was a baby in her stomach or just a lot of pies._

_"No."_

_"But Adira... "_

_"Nature will do as nature intended. You have witnessed the birth of a child, you can help."_

_"I... “His father hesitated, something was definitely wrong, Dad always knew what to say and what to do._

_“Is the child's father with you?"_

_Varian could clearly see the woman shaking her head._

_"Is he not accepting the child?”_

_Something changed on the woman’s face, something that made her seem less scary and more.. scared, upset, Varian couldn’t figure it out.  
  
_

_"I wouldn't know which one he is. Quirin, I got taken off my guard, I couldn't reach my sword, I tried....”_

_Varian was surprised to see his Dad wrap his arms around the woman, he’d not seen his Dad hug anybody except his mother before, well… when his mother was alive. He had to try not to think about that though, it always made him cry._

_“Hush sister, hush. You don't need to say anymore.”_

_“I tried to fight.”_

_Varian thought she might be crying. It sounded like crying.  
  
_

_“I know you did. Hush now, I will help you. We'll find a way through this.”_

_“Thank you brother.”_

_They seemed to hug for the longest time, Varian started to get impatient for something else to happen when the woman opened her eyes and looked right at him._

_“Quirin, your child.”_

_His Dad turned to him now with a look of annoyance, and Varian shrunk back._

_“Varian, go back to bed.”  
  
_

_“Sorry.” Varian muttered turning to plod back to his bedroom._

_“And son, I will be in to check on you soon. Whatever you hear, you don’t come out of your bedroom until morning.”  
  
_

_“Yes Daddy.”_

***

A dream, one he thought he’d had before, but couldn’t quite remember. Already it was slipping away from him. He turned, something feeling different, something not quite right.

Varian opened his eyes, blinking as he instantly felt a bolt of pain pass through his head. His hand reached up unconsciously and there was another deep jolt of pain. He looked around trying to make sense of what had happened. He found himself in a room he didn’t recognise, surrounded by his friends nervously looking at him. It was weird, to wake up and find a load of people staring at you, even if they are friends. He saw Rapunzel sat at the end of his bed, Eugene stood next to her, Lance was in a chair next to him. Then he remembered what had happened. Well, most of what had happened.

“Catty!” He sat bolt upright, only for him to find his shoulders being pushed insistently back downwards by Lance.

“Hey, it’s alright.”  
  


“Lance, Cat, she was running.”  
  


“She’s over there Varian, look.”

Varian looked to where Lance was nodding. The sight of Catalina made his heartache, she was stood with her head bowed down, hair falling over pale and tear streaked face. She wasn’t so much being hugged by Keira, as being propped up by her. He found himself reaching out again and wincing as he saw in surprise a thick bandage around his hand, running up his arm.

“Are you hurt?” He asked, but Catalina barely glanced up at him before letting out another sob. He turned to look at Lance.

“Is she hurt?”  
  


“No. Varian.” Rapunzel answered for him. “But you got quite badly hurt yourself. The doctor says you definitely have a concussion.”

Varian glanced nervously back at Catalina, the sudden movement of his head making him feel like he was going to throw up. Somehow, that all seemed like a secondary problem though, he’d made Catalina cry, she was still too hurt by him to even look at him.

“Broken?” He asked indicating his arm.

“No.” Rapunzel said shaking her head. “You had stiches; it was a large gash. The doctor will come and check in on it later, but he said for you to take a pain killer and for us to keep you awake once you did actually wake up. I’m just so grateful Lance was able to grab that horse, this could have been so much worse.”  
  


“It feels pretty bad as it is.” Varian groaned putting his hand to his head, then turned to look at Lance. “Thank you.” He said earnestly.

Lance gave a small nod.

“Could ah… could I have a minute alone. With Cat?” He asked staring at the pale girl. Her eyes darted up to meet him looking like a deer caught in lamplight. He just needed a chance to apologise, to make things right somehow.

He was aware of his friends sharing looks, and nods, and the bed shifting as Rapunzel got up, but he still didn’t take his eyes off Catalina. He saw her grab Keira’s hand as Keira tried to leave.

"Come on, it's just V, he's not going to shout at you. Like, you were only responsible for him almost getting killed, it’s not like you touched one of his experiments.”

Keira brushed Catalina’s hand from her and left. Varian waited until the door was firmly closed behind her and he was alone with Catalina before reaching out to her again.

“I am so sorry; I should never have said that. You are not a beast, even when you're in your wolf form you're more human than half the people I know. I didn't mean it. Truly I didn’t. I just, was taken by surprise that your Dad thought something may have happened between us, I spoke without thinking. Please forgive me.”  
  


“You got hurt.” She sniffed, her hand coming up to her face to wipe at the tears that were still falling.   
  


Then she was in his arms, her movements so sudden and unexpected that it took him a few moments to realise that she was there, lying across him, her head snuggled into his chest as she shivered. He placed a gentle kiss against the top of her head, lips meeting silken red hair.   
  


“Catalina, I would never want to hurt you.”  
  


“I'm not a beast.”  
  


“I know, I know.” He answered distractedly stroking his uninjured hand down her back as she looked up at him with wide green eyes, puffy from her tears.  
  


“Do you? Because that's just what everyone else sees.”  
  


“I don't, I see you, even when you're a wolf, I can see you inside.”

“It’s my fault you got hurt.”  
  


“No! No, it was an accident.”  
  


“I was so scared V, there was blood, and you went so still...”  
  


“Hush…I’m okay.”

Except, with her weight on him, albeit light, he could feel just how not okay he actually was. Every tiny movement was making his head hurt more, making him feel dizzy and sick. Then every other part of him seemed sore as well, as if every inch of him was covered in bruises. Catalina was watching him cautiously, perhaps having noticed his small winces when he had been talking to her. She sat up and reached over him, her hand returning with a glass filled with some kind of dark liquid.

“Painkiller.” She explained.

“I’m starting to think I might need it.”

She helped him move up into a better position and placed the cup in his good hand. He gave a deep drink of the bitter liquid. Once he’d drunk it all Catalina took the glass from him.

“I uh..” She blushed as her hand reached into a pocket pulling out a piece of paper. “I found that letter from Cassandra, I knew you’d want to read it.”

He reached for her hand, stopping her from unfolding the paper.

“I don’t care about that right now; I just want to spend time with you. I want to know that you’re alright. That we’re alright.”

She gave a small smile as she returned the paper to her pocket.

“We’re alright V.” She said shyly.

“Good.” He answered.

“Here.” She said. “Let’s get you comfy, I’ve had that stuff before, and it hits you quickly.”  
  


“Hits you?” Varian said leaning forwards as she fussed around behind him.

She pushed his shoulder gently and he gave in and laid back on the deep pile of pillows, allowing her to pull the blankets up around him.

“Make’s you funny.” She said.

“Well, do you really think anybody will be able to tell the difference?” Varian joked trying to break the tension. She gave a small smile, the bed obviously to her liking she sat down next to him, her hand inches from his on top of the blanket. He wanted to reach out to her, wanted to see if she would let him hold her hand. Wanted to know that everything was alright between them. But a part of him knew that it wasn’t. Even if she did forgive him for his stupid words, even if he could go back in time and never say them, things wouldn’t be fixed.

Something had begun to change between them, he didn’t know when it had begun, maybe it had been happening for a while and he hadn’t noticed, but there words to each other weren’t as free and easy as they had at one time been. It seemed to him sometimes like there was some kind of subtext to their conversations that he hadn’t quite managed to decode, something in the way his chest felt when she smiled at him, or watched him patiently when he was working, that beautiful, beautiful face that sometimes caught him off guard, because when had she become so beautiful?  
  


His head started to feel like it was full of a liquid, like his brain was drowning, and with it came a panic he had not allowed himself to feel before. He didn’t want things to change between Catalina and himself. He couldn’t bare the thought of there being a day when Cat would never creep down to his lab, a day when they weren’t friends anymore.

“It was never going to happen was it...”

“Hmm..” He muttered.

His head was hurting, and his arm was hurting, and the bitter drink was doing nothing but making him drowsy. Why was she whispering? He knew the words that she’d said, but he couldn’t get them to make sense to him.

“V? V? You're meant to stay awake, come on.” She was in front of him now, pale face amongst a halo of red hair. She was always trying to look after him, he barely even acknowledged it, but sandwiches and mugs of tea always appeared on his desk just before he’d look up and notice her.

“I'm scared now. I'm scared of losing you.” He found himself drowsily saying, trying to make words out of the complicated mixture of feelings running through the fuzziness of his mind.

“It's okay Varian, I forgive you you’re not going to lose me.”

He shook his head, wincing and regretting it instantly as a bolt of pain shoved its way through his temple.

“That's not what I meant.”

“The horse didn't hurt me V. I’m sorry it happened but it's not likely to happen again.”

“I never realized, just how much you're in my life, just how much you are to me until I thought about losing you. “Varian’s hand reached up to stroke her hair, he saw her blush and he was hit by an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and affection.

“I love you Catty.”

She slowly took his hand, moving it away from her hair, and placed a soft kiss on his palm.

“You have a head injury. “She said quietly.

“I'd miss you if you weren't in my life. “

He was so tired now, he was so very nauseous and tired, and he was aware of pain below the fuzziness and tiredness, but he was also aware of a strange feeling of wellbeing.

“How do I keep you? “

“V! V! Stay awake V. I’m going to go get the others okay. Don’t move.”


	6. Dreams and remembrances Part 2

It was ten days after his accident and Varian had returned to his duties, though he was still a little distractable, and he didn’t have too many memories of the day of his accident, or the day after really but he felt that was more due to the pain killers than to the head injury. He was still experiencing the occasional headache, but what was bothering at the moment was the itchiness of his healing arm, and the meeting of the city advisors that he had been called into was going on way too long, and it wasn’t even as if he had anything to contribute.

Eugene caught his eyes from over the table, he smirked at Varian and then rolled his eyes whilst glancing at Nigel who had been talking for over half an hour on goodness knows what. Varian was about to smile when he saw the Queen leaning over and shooting an annoyed look at Eugene. Varian looked back down at his notes, not that a single one of them made any sense to him.

“Right well, let’s round this up for now shall we?” The King was saying. “We’ll reconvene next week.”  


Varian gave a sigh of relief. He just wanted to get somewhere where he could slather his arm with a cooling gel to ease the itch. As everybody was getting up to leave there was a knock on the door, Varian turned to look as Lance was poking his head though the door of the council room.

“Opps, sorry. “  
  


“It’s quite alright Mr. Strongbow.” Queen Arianna answered. “We had just finished.”  
  


“You wanted to see me your majesty?”

“Oh, Yes.” The queen said. “Come in.”

“Wait, is something wrong?” Eugene asked.

It was precisely what Varian had been wondering, and the entire reason he was hanging back as all the other advisors left the room.

“Not really, you can stay if it’s alright with Lance.”  
  


“Yeah, it’s alright with me.” Lance said. Varian caught his eyes as he was speaking and took the eye contact to mean that it was alright if he stayed too. Now he felt curious instead of bored as he took his seat again.

Arianna waited for the room to empty before she sat herself back down and looked across at Lance.

“It’s just about Catalina, and the little incident at the ball.”  
  


“I thought the boy had fully recovered.”  
  


“Unfortunately.” Arianna answered with a small half smirk.

“I just was wondering if perhaps, Catalina could use some feminine influence, and I thought it might be time that we got involved. Perhaps we can train her up to be a lady’s maid? She’s very spirited, and I’m not saying that that’s a bad thing, but she does act a little wild at times. I uh.. have heard of her spending time in the woods, and bathing in the lakes uh.. “

“Not wearing a jot.” The King filled in.

Varian was not particularly surprised to hear that a few people had bumped into Catalina in the woods naked, she did change to and from wolf form after all, and they might have simply caught her in the process of changing. Looking around him it seemed like it wasn’t news to Eugene or Lance either.

She’s getting a bit of a reputation.” The queen continued, “and she’s such a lovely girl, we all genuinely care for her. I wouldn’t want her to end up… well, with a bad reputation that she dousn’t deserve.”

  
“What reputation?” Varian asked confused now. Everybody in the area knew that she was a werewolf, so that couldn’t be the reputation they were talking about.   
  


“Well, it’s been said that she dabbles in magic. “

“We’ve all felt the influences of magic here.” Eugene reminded Arianna.

“I know, but some people think that the nudity has something to do with summoning demons, and with her being a werewolf… well.”

“With her being a werewolf why would she need a demon’s help?” Varian said annoyed. “I think maybe instead of changing her those people should educate themselves! “  
  


“We’re not saying…”  
  


“I love her spirit, I love her wildness, I don’t think she should have to change. People who are different don’t’ fare well in this town, but for goodness sake, the one times she steps out to be seen rather than keeping herself to herself your response is to try and change her. You’re all just part of the problem.”  
  


“Calm down Varian.” Eugene said. “It’s a job, she’s eighteen, it’s a nice offer. We should at least put it to her and see what she wants.”  
  


“You know all I want for the girls is for them to be safe and happy Varian.” Lance said. “She’s two natured, closer to the wild, she feels the call off the woods sometimes, and I doubt anything we ever do is going to change that. We all decided long ago that we weren’t going to try and cure her of that. Remember?”

Varian did remember, he remembered the circumstance when he had first met Catalina.

_The red-haired child was hiding behind Rapunzel and Eugene. So quiet and hunched up, it was as if she was trying to make herself invisible. Varian was having a hard time believing that she could ever be a werewolf, well, he was having a hard time processing the idea of their being actual werewolves at all, he had always thought it a silly myth._

_“Can you help her?” Rapunzel asked._

_Varian was bent down trying to look at the girl and the paw print mark on her cheek. He’d not see Rapunzel in a few weeks, he’d been avoiding her since she’d pardoned him. He’d been avoiding everybody in fact, not that it was hard, as everybody was also avoiding him as if he were the town psychopath…which, he guessed given his action a year before was pretty accurate. Yet here Rapunzel was, trusting him, asking him for help despite him being a known criminal. So, there was only one thing he could say really._

_“I can try. I mean, it’s not really my area. I think it’s more in the realms of magic than science.”  
  
_

_“I know, and we have Xavier working on it too, but we thought you could look at it with a different approach. You might see something we’ve all missed.”_

_He didn’t know where to start, but he’d gone to the library, and had asked the girl to come and sit with him in his lab everyday so that he could try and figure out what inside her was making her change. Honestly, he never got close to even beginning to figure it out. The girl was silent, she sat on a stall swinging her legs. Wordlessly allowing him to take her temperature, transforming herself into the wolf for him to look at. He took samples of saliva, looked at hair under the microscope, but none of it was useful._

_Then one day when he sat there, having almost forgotten about the girl in the corner he heard a small voice._

_“Are you going to kill the wolf?”  
  
_

_Varian looked up startled. It was the first time he’d heard the girl speak.  
  
_

_“Kill it? Well, I hadn’t thought about it like that. I was more thinking of it in terms of a cure.”  
_

_The girl looked down at the floor again._

_“I don’t want to be cured.”  
  
_

_“What?”  
  
_

_He went to her and got down on his knees in front of her, so he was looking up at her and she down at him. He knew how it was difficult to feel like you were taken seriously when people were always literally looking down on you._

_“You want to be a werewolf?”  
  
_

_She nodded._

_He didn’t understand, but sometimes he didn’t need to understand, sometimes he just needed to accept. He had assumed that the girl had wanted to be cured. He would have never tried to cure her if he’d known it wasn’t what she wanted. It was the girl’s decision after all._

_“Okay then, I’ll tell Rapunzel that there’s nothing that can be done. I’ll have a word with Xavier too.”  
_

_He eyes filled with tears as she looked down at him._

_“Really?”  
  
_

_“Really. If you want to be a werewolf, then who am I to try and stop that.”  
  
_

_She flung her arms around his neck._

Snapping out of his memory Varian realised that he’d missed a part of the conversation.

“I’ll talk to her tonight,” Lance was saying, “I think she’d probably like to be a lady’s maid. She’s got some good skills in sewing, and she’s far more interested in the girl stuff than Keira is.”

“I do hope she says yes. She’ll make a good addition to the team, and she might make some new friends.”

Arianna shot Varian a look as she left the room followed by King Fredrick. Varian knew he’d spoken out of turn, and honestly, he couldn’t say what had made him loose his temper, maybe he was just fed up with how people treated those who were different, or maybe he was just still too tired, still too in pain to be dealing with all this.

Lance followed him as he headed down the hall back to his lab.

“Varian a word…”

Varian stopped and turned back to him.

“We’re friends right? I mean, I know you’re closer in age to my daughters than me, but we’ve always been buddies right?”  
  


“Yeah.”  
  


“And buddies don’t’ keep secrets from each other right?”  
  


“Yeah. I don’t have any secrets Lance. What…”  
  


“So, you would tell me if something was going on between you and Catalina.”  
  


“What? Nothing’s going on. I told you, I never meant for her to stay in my room…”  
  


“I know that bit, it’s just, you just got angry at the merest suggestion that Catalina should.. calm down a bit.”

“It just annoys me that’s all. Peoples first reaction to things they don’t understand is always to get scared of them, you know I’ve faced that myself with the alchemy stuff. I just wish that people would have the sense to ask questions first rather than rush to judgements. “

“Okay then, because you would tell me?”

“There is nothing going on between me and Catalina.”  
  


“Because you did just use the word love a few times…and..”  
  


“As a friend Lance, I love her as a friend.” He clapped him on his shoulder. “And if that were to change then I promise you will be the first to know.”  
  



End file.
